Three weeks ago at work, I developed an online form through GoogleApps and invited freshman Honors students at the University of Delaware to nominate and recognize the year’s top Russell Fellow (their peer mentor who builds community in the residence halls) for the Woody Sprague Award. In creating a web-based form and e-mailing the link to the students, I received nearly 85 responses and nominations from students for their Fellows. This number was about double the response rate from last year and even greater than previous years! As my boss and I discussed how we would review the nominations, both of us were thrilled to have so many student nominations pointing out the significant impact of the Russell Fellows. However, my boss verbalized the thoughts I wasn’t stating out loud: with more responses, the ability to select the winner will be much more difficult. This was a good problem to have, but we couldn’t help but wonder if we had made the nomination process “too easy” for students. Would we have been guaranteed an easier decision-making process if we had continued with the old method that required students to e-mail or hand in the form to the office? Would those nominations have been more discerning or impactful because the students needed to “go the extra mile?”
This conversation came just two days after several students in the Monday evening IT class presented a project that prescribed putting local government meetings online and opening an forum for discussion with citizens and political leaders. The question was raised if providing an easier method for citizens to access the town meetings and interact with local politicians would overload the officials or even allow people who are not as politically savvy participate. Once again, as the response rate and citizen participation in politics increases, government officials are left with the same “good problem” I discovered at work. Democracy is based on citizen participation, so what is the issue with welcoming those who may not otherwise engage in politics or the local decision-making process?
Based on class discussions and readings about electronic democracy, or e-democracy, it appears that the electronic age has inspired a desire for direct democracy—greater access to the political process inspires people to want a vote on every issue, to have greater control over the political process. Yet, how efficient is this? In the political process, referendums were developed to allow citizens to vote on certain laws and changes, but ultimately the American political system is a representative democracy. Where should we draw the line in participation, or is there even a line to draw?
Increased citizen participation through e-democracy can take many forms: rulemaking, consultation, campaigning, and advocacy. Initiatives such as those proposed during the in-class presentation do exist as electronic town hall meetings (such as those in New England and Minnesota). However, providing a forum for citizen participation in the legislative process is not a new concept. Instead of citizens picking up and going to the town meeting, they can just sit at their computer from home and interact with officials in that manner. Some would argue that more people will participate because they can do so from their own homes; however, time and level of civic interest still remains a factor in participation. The same highly-educated, wealthy individuals who participate in public are the same citizens who participate online. While the internet increases access to the political process, it still remains that those with knowledge and interest will be the ones engaging online. The difference is not as much in who is participating but how they go about doing so.
I am eager to learn whether political participation will increase over time due to the use of technology or if these changes through e-democracy are merely necessary to meet people where they operate now on a daily basis. How much will these changes encourage civic engagement and how much of it is merely a reflection of the overall shift toward technological means in society?
How much was the response rate to my GoogleApps survey a reflection of the technology available at their fingertips and how much was dependent on the students’ positive opinions of their Russell Fellow? Once again, discovering the motivation for participation is the key to discerning whether e-democracy is a long-term fix to civic engagement or a reflection of the times.
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